304 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



against the large bones, big eared, thick skinned fellows for there is 

 too much waste in Itilling. And as for the heavy boned, big legs that cost 

 us seven cents and we sell out for three cents, we do not want, and we 

 get enough bacon in our mixed loads. We want the big hams and broad 

 backs." 



The producer says, "We do not care what the packer wants or how they 

 kill out, it is the weight we are after." But it must be remembered it 

 is the packers' money we are after and we must meet his needs, in a 

 measure. 



But of course the farmer must have a vigorous hog, one that will 

 rustle for a living and thrive on clover and rape, or one that will follow 

 the feeding cattle and help make cattle feeding profitable. Not a great, 

 rough, unfinished creature at maturity, but a hog of clean cut head, broad 

 back and well sprung rib, full hams and good flinty bone, that will finish 

 at nine months of age weighing about 250 pounds. I am not an advocate 

 of the extreme in any line of hog breeding for the farmer, nor do I be- 

 lieve that over large bone in hogs is beneficial. Admitted there !s t. 

 tendency in some cases to too fine bone and too small bodies. My prefer- 

 ence is for a good, fair sized, flinty bone; it will carry more weight and 

 stand more "grief" without breaking down than the large spongy kind. 

 To buy a hog simply because he is large, without reference to quality, is 

 as fatal to economic pork production as it would be to buy the little fine 

 bone chuff. 



The big, coarse, long-nosed hog, with ears as big as a blacksmith's 

 leather apron, are not the market favorites, neither is the small, fine- 

 boned hog popular or profitable for the farmer. Something between the 

 two extremes will meet all the requirements of the breeder, farmer and 

 the butcher. The happy medium will prove the climax of success. 



No one would think, in selecting a car of feeding steers, of choosing 

 the large, raw'-boned fellows. To secure the highest profit for food and 

 labor we must construct a special beef animal. Hence we must study 

 the principals of special beef breeding. It appears to me it is the same 

 way with the pork hog. 



With the advance in price of land on which our products are raised, 

 will the methods of by-gone days or those that now prevail to a measur- 

 able extent be profitably followed to the highest degree. We certainly 

 must understand how to take advantage of special flesh making heredity 

 for breeding is based on specialized heredity. The well bred, well fed 

 pork hog is the emblem of American push, pluck and "get there." You 

 cannot down him — he is the corn belt hog and is here to stay. 



Let us put aside that pout, put aside that complaint about them being 

 too small or too large, but put a shoulder to the wheel and push. His 

 star goes up and sometimes goes away down, but never sets. The fact 

 that it goes well down is the most reliable r.ssurance that it will some 

 day soar again in zenith. But the man who, as Abraham Lincoln says, 

 "keeps peggin' away" will always enjoy the high prices. 



The June meeting of the association is devoted entirely to the 

 discussion of the program. The business meeting and election of 

 officers takes place on Wednesday evening of State Fair week. 



